Book Review: Feed by Mira Grant (Series, #1)
Summary:
Adopted brother and sister Shaun and Georgia Mason are part of the first generation to not remember a world without zombies. The Rising occurred when a cure for the common cold combined with a cure for cancer to create the Kellis-Amberlee virus. Now everyone has dormant KA cells in their body that can be activated anytime they come into contact with the live virus. But that’s not all that’s changed. The Rising led to bloggers becoming the more trusted news source, and Shaun and Georgia are part of the newly important news group of bloggers. Their big break comes when they’re asked to be part of the media team for one of the presidential candidates, and their new job opens a whole world of intrigue.
Review:
I wanted to love this book. I wanted it to be a 5 star read. The world Grant creates is incredibly interesting. Urban and rural structures designed specifically with zombies in mind. Taking blood tests just to enter a town or a hotel as a routine part of your day. The KA virus being in non-zombies as well as zombies. The whole concept of bloggers rocking the media world. (I mean, hello, I’m a blogger. This is a fun idea). Even though I usually find politics dull in books, the politics in this one were actually interesting since so much of the campaigns revolve around the zombie wars.
So why didn’t I love it? The characters. I have serious issues with the two main characters–Shaun and Georgia. There is a creepy, incestuous vibe rampant around the both of them throughout the book that I don’t feel Grant ever sufficiently addresses. They are nearly completely inseparable. Georgia is in her young 20s, Shaun is 19ish, and they still sleep in the same bed together whenever they get the chance to. In their underwear. Neither of them has ever dated anyone, in spite of the fact that the presence of zombies doesn’t keep anyone else their age from dating. The scenes between Shaun and Georgia read like scenese between lovers. He even puts his hand on the small of her back at one point, something that I’ve only ever had men I’m dating seriously do to me. Don’t get me wrong. I can handle incest in a book, but a) Grant skims over it and doesn’t address it and b) it doesn’t seem to serve the storyline here at all. It’s decidedly odd that in a zombie novel, the part that creeped me out had nothing to do with the zombies. See what I’m saying?
Overall, the world-building is excellent, but the characterization takes away from it. If you like reading books purely for the aura of zombie, you’ll enjoy it. Those more interested in the characters should check out The Forest of Hands and Teeth
3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
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Opinions of a Wolf 
The relationship issue gets a little more addressed in book two: Deadline. I *think* the author’s thinking is that they’ve been so focused on fighting zombies, life or death stuff, that personal issues like this never came up. They were always just so grateful for each other, and probably an unhealthy dose of co-dependent, that thinking about their internal issues wasn’t something they were willing to address. It was always the two of them against their parents, and then as a team in their little blogger company. I think if the resolution of Feed hadn’t occurred, they might have developed into a romantic relationship (the author does eventually spell out that they were adopted by separate biological parents & are not actually related). I’m 3/4 of the way through Deadline, and Shaun’s disfunction about Georgia is a BIG part of the book, not to mention resolving the conspiracy issues. I’m very curious to see what Book 3, and the final book of the trilogy, will be about & to see if it will potentially be another new narrator.
It’s excellent to hear the feedback on the second book, Michelle. I’ve been wondering how these issues get addressed and if the series is worth pursuing. You have piqued my curiosity, so I expect Deadline may be in my future at some point (my tbr pile *is* huge though).
***SLIGHTLY SPOILERISH RE: S&G’S RELATIONSHIP***
If you keep reading, you’ll find out that Grant’s doing what she’s doing with Shaun and Georgia’s relationship on purpose. How you feel about that is up to you, but it is intentional. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that it’s over because of the way Feed ends, either. It’s just getting started.
It is a little weird that she sort of “skims over it” in Feed, but it gets addressed later. Also, remember that it’s Georgia telling us the story. Does Georgia seem like the kind of person to share something that private with…well, anyone but Shaun? There are some things you just don’t write down.
Also, their relationship may not be integral to the zombie apocalypse/political thriller plot, but it is integral to the story. These books are character-driven in a big way, so she’s not just throwing in the weird pseudo-incestuous thing to be edgy. The books aren’t about a political cover-up in a post-zombie-apocalypse world. They’re about Shaun and Georgia (and Co.), uncovering a political cover-up in a post-zombie-apocalypse world.
(And yes, I’m biased because I’m head-over-heels for both the books and for Shaun and George themselves. But that’s my 2 cents.)